Electronic device with sliding apparatus

ABSTRACT

A sliding apparatus includes a sliding member fixed to a first end of a server module, an elongated sleeve shaped first slide rail, and an elongated pole shaped second slide rail. The sliding member includes a first holding portion and a second holding portion each defining a mounting hole. The second slide rail is slidably retained in the mounting holes of the first and second holding portions. A first end of the first slide rail is fixed to a rack. A latch member is fixed to the sliding member for latch the rack. A first end of the second slide rail is slidably received in a second end of the first slide rail. A second end of the second slide rail is fixed to a second end of the server module.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

Relevant subject matter is disclosed in a pending U.S. patentapplication with application Ser. No. 13/298,304 (Docket No. US41236),filed on Nov. 17, 2011 and entitled “ELECTRONIC DEVICE WITH SLIDINGAPPARATUS”, which is assigned to the same assignee as this patentapplication.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to electronic devices, and particularly,to an electronic device having sliding apparatus.

2. Description of Related Art

Electronic devices, such as servers, usually use sliding apparatus tomove the server module into or out of the rack of the electronic device.The traditional sliding apparatus often occupy large space in the rack.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the present embodiments can be better understood withreference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings arenot necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed uponclearly illustrating the principles of the present embodiments.Moreover, in the drawings, all the views are schematic, and likereference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the severalviews.

FIG. 1 is an assembled, isometric view of an electronic device, inaccordance with an embodiment, wherein the electronic device includes arack, a server module, two sliding apparatus, two locking apparatus, andtwo latch members.

FIG. 2 is an assembled, enlarged view of the server module of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an assembled, enlarged view of one of the sliding apparatus,one of the locking apparatus, and one of the latch members of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are exploded, isometric views of FIG. 3, but areviewed from different aspects.

FIG. 6 shows another state of use of the sliding apparatus of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosure, including the accompanying drawings, is illustrated byway of examples and not by way of limitation. It should be noted thatreferences to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are notnecessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at leastone.

Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary embodiment of an electronic deviceincludes a rack 10, a server module 20, two sliding apparatus 30, twolocking apparatus 40, and two resilient latch members 50 (shown in FIG.4).

Referring to FIG. 2, the server module 20 includes two opposite sidesurfaces 22 each fixed with an L-shaped mounting piece 24 at a frontend. The mounting piece 24 includes a fixing portion 242 perpendicularto the corresponding side surface 22. A mounting slot 244 is defined ina lower portion of each fixing portion 242, extending through a bottomedge of the fixing portion 242. A thumbscrew 246 is movably attached tothe fixing portion 242 above the mounting slot 244.

The rack 10 includes a base 11, two first posts 12 perpendicularlyextending up from a front end of the base 11, and two second posts 13perpendicularly extending up from a rear end of the base 11. The firstand second posts 12 and 13 each have an L-shaped cross-section. Thefirst posts 12 each include a flange 121 longitudinally defining aplurality of mounting holes 122. The second posts 13 each include aflange 131 facing the corresponding flange 121 and defining a pluralityof mounting holes 132.

Referring to FIGS. 3 to 5, each sliding apparatus 30 includes a slidingmember 31, an elongated and sleeve shaped first slide rail 32, and anelongated and pole shaped second slide rail 34 slidably received in thefirst slide rail 32.

A first holding portion 313 and a second holding portion 314perpendicularly extend from a first side surface 311 of the slidingmember 31. The first and second holding portions 313 and 314 are spacedfrom and parallel to each other. The first holding portion 313 defines afirst mounting hole 3131. A first rod 3132 protrudes on the firstholding portion 313 above the first mounting hole 3131, away from thesecond holding portion 314. The second holding portion 314 defines asecond mounting hole 3141. A second rod 3142 protrudes on the secondholding portion 314 above the second mounting hole 3141, away from thefirst holding portion 313. Two mushroom shaped protrusions 315 protrudeon a second side surface 312 of the sliding member 31 opposite to thefirst side surface 311.

The first and second holding portions 313 and 314, through the firstslide rail 32 extending through the first mounting hole 3131 and thesecond mounting hole 3141, retaining the first slide rail 32. A firstend 321 of the first slide rail 32 is extended out of the second holdingportion 314 opposite to the first holding portion 313, and forms athreaded portion. A screw nut 3221 is detachably fitted about a secondend 322 of the first slide rail 32. A first end of the second slide rail34 is slidably received in the corresponding first slide rail 32 fromthe second end 322. The first end of the second slide rail 34 fixes ablock 349 to be blocked by the screw nut 3221 to avoid releasing fromthe first slide rail 32. A threaded portion 341 is formed on a secondend of each second slide rail 34 opposite to the first slide rail 32. Ascrew 342 can be screwed on the threaded portion 341.

Each latch member 50 is fixed to the second side surface 312 adjacent tothe first holding portion 313 with a first end. A ring shaped operationportion 51 extends from a second end of the latch member 50. A wedge 52protrudes on the latch member 50 adjacent to the operation portion 51.The sliding member 31 defines a through hole 316 for the wedge 52 toextend through.

Each locking apparatus 40 includes an L-shaped fixing member 41, areleasing member 42, a resilient member 43, and a fastener 44. Thefixing member 41 includes a locking plate 412 and a fixing plate 414extending perpendicularly from an end of the locking plate 412. Thefixing plate 414 defines a plurality of fixing holes 4142. Twosubstantially L-shaped locking slots 4121 are defined in a bottom sideof the locking plate 412. A pivot pin 4122 protrudes on the lockingplate 412 adjacent to one of the locking slot 4121. Two spacedpositioning pins 4123 protrude on the locking plate 412 above the pivotpin 4122. The releasing member 42 includes a fan shaped main body 421,which can block an inlet of one of the locking slots 4121. A pivot hole4212 is defined in the main body 421. A handle 424 extends from acircumference of the main body 421 away from the pivot hole 4212. Thepivot hole 4212 is pivotably set around the pivot pin 4122. The fastener40 screws into the pivot pin 4122 to block the releasing member 42. Thehandle 424 is positioned between the positioning pins 4123. Theresilient member 43 is set around the pivot pin 4122, and between thereleasing member 42 and the locking plate 412, for biasing the releasingmember 42. Two opposite ends of the resilient member 43 respectivelyabut against the releasing member 42 and the locking plate 412.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 5, in assembling the server module 20 to therack 10, mounting one side surface 22 to the rack 10 is described as anexample. The first end 321 extends through one of the mounting holes 132of a corresponding second post 13. A screw 90 is screwed to the firstend 321. The sliding member 31 slides toward the corresponding firstpost 12 along the first slide rail 32, until the first rod 3132 engagesin a corresponding mounting hole 122 of the first post 12 to positionthe sliding member 31. The wedge 52 abuts against the flange 121 todeform the latch member 50, until the wedge 52 slides over the flange121. The latch member 50 is then restored to make the wedge 52 abutagainst an outer side of the flange 121 away from the second post 13,for preventing the sliding member 31 from moving back.

The second end of the second slide rail 34 extends through the mountingholes 122 below the first rod 3132. The screw 342 is screwed to thescrew portion 341. The screw 342 is engaged in the mounting slot 244.The fixing plate 414 is fixed to a rear end of a corresponding sidesurface of the server module 20. The protrusions 315 are respectivelyengaged in the locking slots 4121. The resilient member 43 resists thereleasing member 42 to block one of the locking tabs 315 adjacent to thereleasing member 42 in the corresponding locking slot 4121.

Referring to FIG. 6, the operation portion 51 is operated to deform thelatch member 50 away from the sliding member 31 until the wedge 52 isreleased from the flange 121. The server module 20 is pushed into therack 10, the second slide rails 34 slide into the first slide rails 32.The second rods 3142 engage in the corresponding mounting holes 132. Thethumbscrew 246 is screwed into one of the mounting holes 122.

In this embodiment, the sliding apparatus 30 includes a plurality ofsleeve shaped first slide rails 32 and pole shaped second slide rails 34slidably received in the first slide rails 32 respectively, which cansave space on the rack 10.

In an alternative embodiment, the rear end of the server module 20 canbe fixed to the second side surface 312 directly. Thereby, the lockingapparatus 40 may be canceled.

It is believed that the present embodiments and theirs advantages willbe understood from the foregoing description, and they will be apparentthat various changes may be made thereto without departing from thespirit and scope of the description or sacrificing all of their materialadvantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being exemplaryembodiment.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sliding apparatus to be connected between a rack and a server module, the sliding apparatus comprising: a sliding member to be fixed to a first end of the server module, wherein the sliding member comprises a first holding portion and a second holding portion each defining a mounting hole; an elongated and sleeve shaped first slide rail slidably retained in the mounting holes of the first holding portion and the second holding portion, wherein a first end of the first slide rail is fixed to the rack; an elongated and pole shaped second slide rail, wherein a first end of the second slide rail is slidably received in the first slide rail through a second end of the first slide rail, a second end of the second slide rail is fixed to a second end of the server module; and a latch member fixed to the sliding member and lockable to the rack.
 2. The sliding apparatus of claim 1, wherein a screw nut is screwed to the second end of the first slide rail to block the second slide rail, to prevent the second slide rail from being released from the first slide rail.
 3. The sliding apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sliding member comprises a first side surface and a second side surface opposite to the first side surface, the first holding portion and the second holding portion protrude from the first side surface, the second side surface is fixed to the server module, the latch member is fixed to the second side surface.
 4. The sliding apparatus of claim 1, wherein a first rod protrudes on the first holding portion for engaging in the rack.
 5. The sliding apparatus of claim 1, wherein a second post protrudes on the second holding portion for engaging in the rack.
 6. The sliding apparatus of claim 1, wherein the latch member comprises an operation portion, and a wedge protruding on the latch member adjacent to the operation portion, the sliding member defines a through hole, the wedge extends through the through hole to abut against the rack.
 7. An electronic device comprising: a rack; a server module comprising two side surfaces; and two sliding apparatus each arranged between a corresponding one of the two side surfaces and the rack; wherein each sliding apparatus comprises: a sliding member fixed to a first end of a corresponding one of the two side surfaces of the server module, wherein the sliding member comprise a first holding portion and a second holding portion each defining a mounting hole; an elongated and sleeve shaped first slide rail slidably retained in the mounting holes of the first holding portion and the second holding portion, wherein a first end of the first slide rail is fixed to the rack; an elongated and pole shaped second slide rail, wherein a first end of the second slide rail is slidably received in the first slide rail through a second end of the first slide rail, a second end of the second slide rail is fixed to a second end of the side surface of the server module; and a latch member fixed to the sliding member and lockable to the rack.
 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the rack comprises a base, two first posts extending up from a first end of the base, and two second posts extending up from a second end of the base, the first and second posts sandwich the server module, the first and second posts each define a plurality of mounting holes, the first end of the first slide rail is fixed to one of the first mounting holes of the corresponding first post, the second end of the second slide rail extends through one of the mounting holes of the corresponding second post to be fixed to the server module.
 9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein a first rod protrudes on the first holding portion for engaging in one of the mounting holes of the second post, a second rod protrudes on the second holding portion for engaging in one of the mounting holes of the first post.
 10. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein a screw nut is screwed to the second end of the first slide rail to block the second slide rail, to prevent the second slide rail from being released from the first slide rail.
 11. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the sliding member comprises a first side surface and a second side surface opposite to the first side surface, the first holding portion and the second holding portion protrude on the first side surface, the second side surface is fixed to the server module, the latch member is fixed to the second side surface.
 12. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein a mounting piece is fixed to the second end of each side surface of the server module, the mounting piece defines a mounting slot, the second end of the second slide rail is detachably engaged in the mounting slot.
 13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein a thumbscrew is movably attached to the mounting piece for screwing in the rack.
 14. The electronic device of claim 7, further comprising a locking apparatus attached to the first end of the server module, wherein the locking apparatus is detachably attached to the sliding member.
 15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the locking apparatus comprises a fixing member fixed to the server module, a releasing member pivotably attached to the fixing member, and a resilient member arranged between the releasing member and the fixing member.
 16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein a pin protrudes on the sliding member, a locking slot is defined in the fixing member, the pin pushes the releasing member to slide in the locking slot, the releasing member is biased by the resilient member to lock the pin in the locking slot.
 17. The sliding apparatus of claim 11, wherein the latch member comprises an operation portion, and a wedge protruding on the latch member adjacent to the operation portion, the sliding member defines a through hole, the wedge extends through the through hole to abut against the rack 